Philosophy

Removed From Reality I have never read the Gita fully. Nor have I read the Thirukkural fully. I’ve read them in parts and mostly understood them based on their English translations. And there start most of my problems. There is a fantastic quote I read someplace - Every written word is twice removed from reality: Some thing happens and you observe it. Now the observation in your recollection is already incorrect in that it doesn’t have the resolution of the actual incident (not that we are liars). Then we write it down. Now when you read it, it is further removed. What you understand from a piece of text is extremely embellished by your own experiences in life. ...

Recently my mom had come visiting; more to spend time with my infant son and a little to spend time with us. Now my in-law is here with us – more to take care and spend time with our son than much else. A trip we arranged for our convenience as well. Of course, we took this step to evaluate our options. But this taught us more about our parents and gave answers to most of what we are. Yeah, and an answer to what our options really are. ...

It was an insightful morning today. I was getting my 1-month-old to sleep after his feed so that we can get our day started. Noni is sort of jealous of me on this: Unta seems to love my arm couch better than hers. Even though I squeeze him like an orange. Maybe he feels super cozy! Ok, please don’t advise me on why I should not squeeze a 1-month-old like an orange. I already know I shouldn’t. ...

… is that you may end up having little to no understanding of domains where there are actual problems worth solving. For instance, Noni and I were discussing one of Noni’s ideas for payment processing. As software people, both of us can quickly locate the api and frameworks required and even build an MVP in little to no time. But neither of us are aware of what regulatory aspects control such finance apps. That means we now need to engage with a finance specialist (like an auditor or a chartered accountant or a banker). No, that’s not a bad idea as is. But it leaves us looking naive even though we pack close to 10 years of programming expertise each. ...

In general, aggression is not a good idea. But I think aggression is the fundamental reason I have come some far in my life. I believe you need to be aggressive in your work. This has nothing to do with the proverbial rat-race. Of course, you need to be very aggressive to actually achieve something in the race as well. But that aggression possibly only gives you bad health and nothing much else. ...

I find this an oft-returning thought to me. I completely believe in assuming responsibility to what happens with my life. And truly, my career and life so far is a reflection of conscious decisions I have taken thus far in my journey. But every time I look back, I clearly see the mistakes I make. Some of these mistakes are fairly disastrous. I sometimes wonder I shouldn’t have joined IIT. I always knew I wanted to be on my own. IIT was not a logical step in that direction – as in – not a step aimed to directly equip me for this. IIT was a dream and I pursued it. But should I have pursued that dream in lieu of a losing a bigger dream? ...

If you have to hesitate to make a decision, then perhaps you are not yet ready to go ahead with it. You lack the clarity or confidence or the rigor needed to keep up with the decision. I hesitated again today to do something. A hesitation I would not have had 4 years back even if I was earning only half of what I do today. Growing up does not always make your life easy. ...

I love this post from Seth Godin. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/03/more-trouble-than-its-worth.html You must read it too. And here is my favorite line in that post: Seeking out the things that are more trouble than most people think they’re worth is a powerful place to be. I have been here. Early on in my career, when I was here, it really gained me the quick recognition and earned me the type of tasks I was best suited for. On the edge. ...

Sometimes it’s a shame to do some things. It’s a shame to not do anything about what is important to you. It’s a shame to feel helpless when what you love is snatched right from your hand and you don’t even raise an eyebrow. It’s a shame to let someone think you are at their mercy. And it’s a shame to believe that someone is in your mercy. At this point in time, I feel ashamed about myself. This is not who I set out to be. Yet this is not the time to act. I choose to remain shameless until it is time to act. Because not everyone or everything is fair. ...

Read this post from Seth Godin. I found it profound and enlightening, even outside of the marketing paradigm that Seth talks about in. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2015/01/your-mood-vs-your-reality.html In fact, this is completely in line with “The Secret”, another book that I’d recommend a read. I’ve never managed to read it through so far, though. http://finishonethingtoday.com As simple as that. Go finish one thing today.